Today In Sports History

The Tampa Bay Rays celebrate after beating the Texas Rangers 5-2 at an American League wild-card tiebreaker baseball game Monday, Sept. 30, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. The Rays advance to face the Cleveland Indians in the American League wild-card playoff. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

1903 — The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Pilgrims (now Red Sox) 7-3 in the first World Series game. Jimmy Sebring hits the first Series homer, Deacon Phillippe is the winning pitcher and Cy Young the loser.

1932 — Babe Ruth, as legend has it, called his home run against Chicago’s Charlie Root in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the World Series, won by the New York Yankees 7-5 at Wrigley Field. Ruth and Lou Gehrig each hit two homers for the Yankees.

1946 — For the first time in major league history, a playoff series to determine a league’s championship was played between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Cardinals took the first game 4-2 as Howie Pollet held the Dodgers to two hits, a homer and an RBI single by Howie Schultz.

1950 — The Philadelphia Phillies clinched the NL pennant on Dick Sisler’s three-run homer against Don Newcombe in a 4-1 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers on the season’s last day.

1961 — Roger Maris hits his 61st home run of the season, against Tracy Stallard of the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The blow gives New York a 1-0 victory and eclipses Babe Ruth’s 34-year-old single-season home run record.

1967 — The Boston Red Sox won the American League pennant with a 5-3 win over the Twins on the final day of the season. Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski went 4-for-4 and finished with 44 home runs, 121 RBIs and a .326 average to win the batting Triple Crown.

1975 — In the “Thrilla in Manila,” Muhammad Ali beats Joe Frazier in 14 rounds to retain his world heavyweight title.

1977 — 75,646 fans come to the Meadowlands to see soccer great Pele play his farewell game. Pele plays the first half with the New York Cosmos and the second half with his former team, Santos of Brazil.

1997 — Kevin Garnett agrees to terms with the Minnesota Timberwolves on the richest long-term contract in professional sports history, a six-year deal worth more than $125 million.

2004 — Ichiro Suzuki sets the major league record for hits in a season, breaking George Sisler’s 84-year-old mark with a pair of early singles as the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 8-3. Sisler set the hits record of 257 in 1920 with the St. Louis Browns over a 154-game schedule. Suzuki breaks it in the Mariners’ 160th game of the year.

2006 — Joe Mauer becomes the first catcher to win an AL batting title as Minnesota beats the Chicago White Sox 5-1. Mauer, finishing at .347, ends up four points ahead of New York shortstop Derek Jeter.

2006 — Tiger Woods matches his longest PGA Tour winning streak of six at the American Express Championship. Woods finishes with a 4-under 67 for an eight-shot victory. It’s also his eighth victory of the year, making him the first player in PGA Tour history to win at least eight times in three seasons.

2009 — Pitcher Chris Carpenter hit a grand slam and drove in six runs to lead St. Louis to a 13-0 victory over the Reds. Carpenter’s first career homer capped a five-run second inning for the Cardinals. He added a two-run double during a four-run fifth to match the career RBI total he brought into the game. The last pitcher to have six RBIs in a game was Micah Owings for Arizona at Atlanta on Aug. 18, 2007.

2009 — Francisco Rodriguez of the New York Mets became the first pitcher since Lee Smith in 1995 to allow two game-ending grand slams in the same season. Justin Maxwell’s two-out homer capped a five-run ninth inning off the All-Star closer and gave Washington a 7-4 victory.

2011 — Robinson Cano hit a grand slam and drove in six runs, rookie Ivan Nova pitched brilliantly into the ninth inning in an unusual relief appearance and the New York Yankees shook off a 23-hour rain delay to beat the Detroit Tigers 9-3 in their suspended playoff opener.